Machine for distributing seed, fertilizer and other grain or powder masses

ABSTRACT

An impeller for controlling the flow of grain or pulverulent materials between a container containing such materials and a centrifugal fan for distributing said materials over a wide area, the impeller feeding a predetermined quantity per revolution to the fan.

United States Patent Kverneland MACHINE FOR DISTRIBUTING SEED,FERTILIZER AND OTHER GRAIN OR POWDER MASSES Inventor: Finn Kverneland,Brumunddal, Norway Assignee: Globus Maskinfabrikk A/S, Brumunddal,

Norway Filed: Aug. 10, 1970 Appl. No.: 62,444

Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. 1, 1969 Norway ..3487/69 us. Cl..239/654, 239/687 1m. Cl ..A0lc 15/04 Field 6: Search ..222/373;239/688, 687, 683,

[ 51 July 11, 1972 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 321,879 7/1885Amundsonetal ..239/683 3,167,958 2/1965 Hollmann Primary Examiner-RobertB. Reeves Assistant Examiner.10hn P. Shannon, .Ir. Attorney-McGlew andToren [5 7] ABSTRACT An impeller for controlling the flow of grain orpulverulent materials between a container containing such materials anda centrifugal fan for distributing said materials over a wide area, theimpeller feeding a predetermined quantity per revolution to the fan.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PKTENTEDJUL 1 1 m2 SHEET 2 OF 2 FIG. 2.

ATTORNEY MACHINE FOR DISTRIBUTING SEED, FERTILIZER AND OTHER GRAIN RPOWDER MASSES The present invention relates to an improvement in sowingmachine, fertilizer distributors and similar machines for distributionof grain and pulverulent masses in predetermined quantities per squareunit over large areas.

A convenient manner of transporting seed and fertilizer from the bottomof a tank or container is to provide air streams generated by acentrifugal fan beneath the tank of the container from which the seed orfertilizer is removed, and uniform dispensing-is achieved in accordancewith the invention in that an impeller is disposed in the passageextending from the bottom of the container to the centrifugal fan, andon operation of the machine the said impeller rotates and discharges adetermined amount of seed or fertilizer per revolution. The amountdischarged may be continuously and very accurately adjusted when theinlet to the helical channel or channels of the impeller is made smalleror larger by means of a rotatable flap or plate.

The invention thus relates to an improvement in a machine fordistributing seed, fertilizer and other grain or pulverulent masses,said machine comprising a tank or container for the mass to bedistributed and a centrifugal fan to further transport the mass from thecontainer, and it is substantially characterized in that a rotatableimpeller is mounted in a passage between the bottom of the container andthe centrifugal fan.

A suitable embodiment example is characterized in that the inlet to thehelical channel or channels of the impeller is adjustable.

A further feature of the invention resides in the fact that, on the endfacing towards the centrifugal fan, the impeller is provided withoutwardly directed blades. It is an advantage, moreover, that theimpeller is rotatable independent of the centrifugal fan.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood, it isfurther described in the following with reference to the drawing, where:

FIG. 1 shows a section through the bottom of a tank or container forgrain or pulverulent mass, and appurtenant discharge means constructedin accordance with the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a section through an impeller which, in accordance with theinvention, is disposed in the outlet from the bottom of the tank, viewedfrom the side, and

FIG. 3 shows the same as FIG. 2 seen from above.

On FIG. 1, the bottom of the tank is designated by 1 and is providedwith an outlet 2 for conveying for example seed into a chamber 3 whereinthere is located a centrifugal fan 4, the shaft 5 of which beingrotatably mounted for rotation of the fan by means of a V-belt pulley 6.The chamber 3 has a plurality of outlets 7 leading to known parts of asowing machine or fertilizer distributor for distribution of thedischarged mass over the working width of the machine.

The centrifugal fan 4 generates powerful air streams which entrain thegrain or pulverulent mass conveyed downwardly from the lower portion ofthe container through the bottom 2 thereof, and in order to ensure thatthe said discharge is uniform an impeller 8 is mounted in the passage 2from the container to the centrifugal fan 4, said impeller being furtherdescribed in the following with reference to FIG. 2. In the ex ampleillustrated, the impeller is secured to a shaft 9 which is rotatablymounted in the shaft 5 of the centrifugal fan 4 and is provided with aV-belt pulley 10, so that the impeller 8 and the fan 4 are capable ofrotating independently at respective speed.

In order to ensure that the grain or pulverulent mass conveyed throughthe passage 2 by the impeller 8 is introduced into the powerfulairstream of the centrifugal fan 4, the impeller is provided at itslower end with outwardly directed vanes 11 which rotate with theimpeller and convey the grain or pulverulent mass to the air of thecentrifugal fan in the area of the outlet 7 of the housing 3.

The impeller 8 is shown more in detail on FIG. 2, and in this particularembodiment it is provided with a helical channel 12 initiating at theupper, plane end 13 of the impeller 8 at a sharp edge 14. The grain orpulverulent mass impelled into the chamber 3 during rotation of theimpeller follows the path indicated by the arrow 15. At the said upper,plane end 13 an adjustable plate 16 is mounted which is viewed fromabove on FIG. 3. The plate is adapted to be rotated about the center 17of the impeller 8 and, in that the plate has a straight edge 18 which isspaced from the center 17, it is possible by adjustment of the plate 16in relation to the impeller 8 to regulate the dimension of the inletopening to the helical channel 12 and thereby to determine the amount ofthe mass conveyed to the chamber 3 per revolution of the impeller.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. Improvement in a machine for distributing feed, fertilizer and othergrain or powder masses comprising a container for the mass to bedistributed having an outlet opening in its lower end, a downwardlydepending outlet passage connected at its upper end to the outletopening from said container, a centrifugal fan located at the lower endof said outlet passage, a first shaft in alignment with said outletpassage, said centrifugal fan mounted on said first shaft for rotationtherewith, a second shaft positioned within said first shaft andindependently rotatable thereof, an impeller located within said outletpassage between the outlet opening from said container and saidcentrifugal fan and said impeller mounted on said second shaft forrotation therewith, a disc mounted on and extending transversely of saidsecond shaft and located at the lower end of said outlet passage, saiddisc extending radially outwardly from said outlet passage andseparating said outlet passage from said centrifugal fan, a plurality ofoutwardly directed vanes positioned on the side of said disc facing thelower end of said outlet passage, said disc and vanes arranged to rotatewith said impeller, a helical channel located within said impeller andterminating at its lower end at said disc for directing the materialfrom said container to said vanes on said disc and the radially outeredges of said vanes being aligned above the radially outer edges of saidcentrifugal fan for uniformly directing the material into the path ofsaid centrifugal fan at its radially outer edge, and adjustable meanslocated at the inlet end of said helical channel for adjusting the inletopening to said helical channel for determining the mass of materialconveyed to said vanes on said disc for revolution of said impeller.

2. Improvement in a machine, as set forth in claim 1, wherein saidadjustable means comprises a plate rotatable relative to said impellerand disposed perpendicularly of said second shaft at the upper end ofsaid helical channel in said impeller, so that by rotating said platethe dimension of the opening into said helical channel can be varied.

3. Improvement in a machine, as set forth in claim 2, wherein said platecovering a portion of the upper end of said impeller and being rotatableabout the axis of said second shaft, said plate having a chordallyextending edge relative to the axis of said second shaft spaced fromboth the axis of said second shaft and the circumferential periphery ofsaid impeller.

4. Improvement in a machine, as set forth in claim 1, wherein wall meansforming a chamber enclose said outlet passage, said impeller, said discand said centrifugal fan and its circumferential periphery is spacedradially outwardly from the circumferential periphery of said disc andsaid centrifugal fan, and said chamber having outlets located at itscircumferential periphery spaced radially outwardly from the radial

1. Improvement in a machine for distributing feed, fertilizer and othergrain or powder masses comprising a container for the mass to bedistributed having an outlet opening in its lower end, a downwardlydepending outlet passage connected at its upper end to the outletopening from said container, a centrifugal fan located at the lower endof said outlet passage, a first shaft in alignment with said outletpassage, said centrifugal fan mounted on said first shaft for rotationtherewith, a second shaft positioned within said first shaft andindependently rotatable thereof, an impeller located within said outletpassage between the outlet opening from said container and saidcentrifugal fan and said impeller mounted on said second shaft forrotation therewith, a disc mounted on and extending transversely of saidsecond shaft and located at the lower end of said outlet passage, saiddisc extending radially outwardly from said outlet passage andseparating said outlet passage from said centrifugal fan, a plurality ofoutwardly directed vanes positioned on the side of said disc facing thelower end of said outlet passage, said disc and vanes arranged to rotatewith said impeller, a helical channel located within said impeller andterminating at its lower end at said disc for directing the materialfrom said container to said vanes on said disc and the radially outeredges of said vanes being aligned above the radially outer edges of saidcentrifugal fan for uniformly directing the material into the path ofsaid centrifugal fan at its radially outer edge, and adjustable meanslocated at the inlet end of said helical channel for adjusting the inletopening to said helical channel for determining the mass of materialconveyed to said vanes on said disc for revolution of said impeller. 2.Improvement in a machine, as set forth in claim 1, wherein saidadjustable means comprises a plate rotatable relative to said impellerand disposed perpendicularly of said second shaft at the upper end ofsaid helical channel in said impeller, so that by rotating said platethe dimension of the opening into said helical channel can be varied. 3.Improvement in a machine, as set forth in claim 2, wherein said platecovering a portion of the upper end of said impeller and being rotatableabout the axis of said second shaft, said plate having a chordallyextendiNg edge relative to the axis of said second shaft spaced fromboth the axis of said second shaft and the circumferential periphery ofsaid impeller.
 4. Improvement in a machine, as set forth in claim 1,wherein wall means forming a chamber enclose said outlet passage, saidimpeller, said disc and said centrifugal fan and its circumferentialperiphery is spaced radially outwardly from the circumferentialperiphery of said disc and said centrifugal fan, and said chamber havingoutlets located at its circumferential periphery spaced radiallyoutwardly from the radial edges of said centrifugal fan and disc.